Empress Theater snowy night

Recently it was announced that the historic Empress Theater in NDG would be torn down, sort of. It seems they will attempt to preserve the facade with steel supports behind it, leaving an open park area where the theater was. Might as well tear down the whole thing if that's the idea, but hey, you gotta leave something for the graffiti (and watercolour) artists to paint! In this painting, I was standing across Sherbrooke street in a snow embankment next to the sidewalk, and did a painting of the left part of the facade with the fire escape, and a street lamp illuminating with an eerie glow. 

Empress fire escape, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Looking just to the right of the Empress theater, there are a few shops with bright neon signs and warm interior lighting cutting through a gloomy evening. With overcast skies on a winter night, it takes on a kind of greenish-grey glow with blue and orange tints. I ran the mixture off raw sienna (PBr7) and tinted with indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73). Next time I will lean into the raw sienna-blue mix more, to get the greenish glow, which only comes out a little bit in this painting. That greenish grey sky colour is difficult, with a bit more tweaking maybe I can get it right. In 2023 I did a good night painting of a dépanneur with a greenish sky, you can see it in this blog.  

View next to Empress, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Chilly night paintings downtown

The half moon was hanging high in the sky over the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Actually, it was over my left shoulder, but it looked better to compose it this way. In the foreground is the highway that runs under the city, you can see the cars down on the roads from this vantage point, nearby where I painted on a sunny day last November. Since mayor before last decided to upgrade the lighting system on the Cartier bridge, its made for some neat paintings including these ones!

Half moon over bridge lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

 

These paintings were too moist to add much detail, which explains the lack of a signature... I decided to leave them as is, no touch ups at home afterwards. Zooming in, you might see the crystalline textures that form when salty water freezes on location. Its not easy to get out of a warm couch under a blanket and decide to go for a bike ride with such wind chill at night, but its a neat thing that these paintings even exist now, I guess that's the reward of painting on location. This location is right next to the outdoor skating rink. 

Neon lights trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026  

Sunset and pylon puddle

Over at Benny park near the sports complex there is a small forest of pine trees that catch the sunset. The well-trodden snowy hill in the foreground was reflecting a variety of pastel colours from the sky. I got the whole painting done on location including the tree details. 

Sunset Benny pine trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Walking past this puddle reflecting a pylon (and another construction sign off to the right), I thought, when will I get the chance to paint this again? Lucky me, right place right time! It was a real challenger to get all the blue, brown, grey and orange working together with dirty melting snow. Looks like it will stay hovering around zero for a while yet. 

Pylon puddle, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 
 

Snow field shadows

This empty lot on the corner of Peel and Ottawa streets, in the Griffintown neighborhood, had a fresh blanket of snow. It is one of the few, if any, places where you can get full sun in downtown Montreal especially in the winter when the angle of the sun is low. In the painting, you are looking North-West, that row of housing in the middle is community housing protected from Condo development. Instead of a Condo, this empty lot is slated to become an outdoor community commerce area, hopefully with some trees here and there. Montreal is allergic to empty space, so it has to be filled up as soon as possible.  

Empty lot winter vista, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

From the same vantage point, looking West, there is a Fire station on Young street casting a long shadow across the mostly undisturbed snowy field, just a few foot paths crossing the view. The snow shadow seemed to have two tones, a blue violet out in the field which I mixed with indo blue (PB60) and dark magenta (PV55), then a more greenish-blue in the distance I made by daubing phthalo blue (PB15) into the other mixture. Maybe it was all the same colour and my eyes were playing tricks on me. With the cold icy-wind blasting in from the west I couldn't see much when I painted this! 

Fire station snow shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Sun shining on Dorchester Square

 

From the look of it you might conclude it was warm today, but it was anything but. Strong, icy wind pelted Montreal which had received a fresh blanket of snow the night before. These trees in Dorchester Square line a walking path that only a few pigeons were brave enough to stroll down. Occasionally a group of pigeons landed right next to me anticipating food. To keep the top part of this painting clean, I omitted the background which was full of skyscraper buildings in shadow. 

Pigeons strolling, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Many tour buses park around Dorchester square, although I did not see too many tourists. Maybe they were staying on the bus which would have been smart today. The pigeons were hanging out on top of the archway of the Dominion building in the background, they were probably catching some heat off the front door of the facade. This was a tough painting to complete due to difficult conditions, the palette blew onto the ground a few times. Luckily I was dressed heavily for the occasion, all parts wind-proofed and insulated. Still the paint froze on the palette and the slow-drying salty water was a pain as usual. 

Tour bus Dominion building,watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

To keep things moving I did two paintings at a time. For example, I painted the background elements for this one, worked on the bus painting, then finished this one with the dark overlays. The paint brush handles like a gooey crayon in these conditions, so its hard to paint straight lines. The left is a car rental building, the right is part of the impressive Sun Life building. 

Car rental Sun Life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Being a 'square' instead of a 'park' means that they can lay a million expensive stone bricks instead of having grass. At least the square is still surrounded by tall trees which house many squirrels. The medieval-looking building in the background is the old Windsor Station, now a community center. As you can tell, Dorchester square is at the center of some historic parts of Montreal. Dorchester was a British army figure, in fact, the main street through downtown Montreal was called Dorchester until they renamed it after a Quebec politician. This square retains the name though. 

Snow piles Dorchester square, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Frosty scenes near the train tracks

Just before sunset I got down to the train tracks near campus and made a few paintings. It was pretty frosty out there, you can see all the ice crystals that formed in the watercolour washes up in the sky, and in my shadow at the front. The commuter train went by and cars were heading home after a days work. Between the road and the bike path there was a triangle of fresh snow that cast my shadow in a neutral sky blue. 

Road path tracks my shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Looking to the west, the commuter train rumbled by. The foliage around the train tracks, including trees and vines, made for some good contrasts with the straight lines of the train tracks. When composing scenes in the winter, its important to keep an eye on the compositions because there is not a whole lot of colour to work with. In this case I used a variety of overlapping lines, in the first painting I relied on the triangle of snow to carry the scene. Hopefully it warms up a bit and I can paint some more. 

Train foliage, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Peel basin and canal frozen snowy

Making it from downtown to the peel basin, I found some more sun shine and a good view of the old pier covered in snow. At the base of the canal wall, there was a trail of paw prints, likely belonging to a fox that walks around here in the winter. I did not see the fox this time, but have painted it in the past here and here. When painting in the winter with salt water and freezing temperatures, you have to paint a lot darker knowing that it will dry light. In fact, you loose about two full shades of darkness when it dries. For that reason, I dab in plenty of darks like indo blue (PB60), dark magenta (PV55), and carbon black (PBk6). 

Peel basin paw prints, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Its funny I've never really painted these old towers by the canal, they are long defunct and rusting away. Recently hydro quebec announced they will remove all the towers, but some critics are saying they are heritage objects that should be saved. From an artistic standpoint they are more of a pain, so they could take them away, but maybe they are part of the history. Seeing them up close it looks more like they are ready to fall down.  

 Old towers by canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026